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Media and PR

Jamaica shrugs off controversial Volkswagen Super Bowl ad and sees tourism benefit

David McFadden

Photo Credit: The controversial Volkswagen ad slated for airing in the Super Bowl has been labeled racist by some, but Jamaican tourism officials hope it will draw attention to the country.  YouTube

Skift Take

If Jamaicans aren't insulted by the ad and can get some tourism benefit from it, then it's all good. Jamaica, no problem.

Jamaica is embracing a controversial Super Bowl commercial that depicts a white office worker from the U.S. Midwest feigning the Caribbean island's lilting patois accent to display a cheerful, upbeat outlook. Some U.S. critics have described the pregame Super Bowl ad from Volkswagen of America as offensive and culturally insensitive, apparently seeing the commercial that hit the web on Monday as an echo of segregation-era depictions of white people posing as happy-go-lucky black folk. Jamaica's population is predominantly black. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H0xPWAtaa8   On NBC's "The Today Show," Barbara Lippert, editor-at-large at mediapost.com, said she believed the commercial was

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